I saw a 60 Minutes program a few months back. Apparently Howard Hughes had set up the Hughes Medical Foundation, which is worth like $10 Billion today. Anyways, they dish out fairly liberally, with minimal forms, money for various research projects. $500,000 here, $1 million there, $150,000 elsewhere etc....

They interviewed a number of scientists and they all said how easy it was to research very obscure though valuable areas, like how our brain registers smell, or some disease that will never be profitable etc....

Anyways, if there was something similar for space it would be very valuable. Sure I'm stating the obvious. But if private individuals (Paul Allen?) or the government could set aside the money, and have a board of directors that spreads the seed money around, it would generate a lot of unique ideas and creative solutions I'd think.

The problem is, there isn't enough devolopment privately. A non-profit research foundation is all well and good, but right now the money needs to go to for profit ventures, which are inherently more efficient. Of course, I don't have any money. But if someone wants to give me a couple of million, I'd be glad to donate some to space research.

_________________“Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.” -Anonymous